


Before the After: The Adventures of Adonica

by Chilly Super Punk (kelamorrison)



Series: Before and After [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam and Veronica roommates, Adam dies, Adam is a queen, Adonica, Adonica (Adam and Veronica friendship), But it's canon so don't hate, Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Veronica explores her attractions, Veronica is a boss, Voltron Canon Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-17 16:55:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16520345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelamorrison/pseuds/Chilly%20Super%20Punk
Summary: Shiro left, Adam died, but there was a lot more to the story than that. There was a whole love story that needs to be told and the story of what happened right after Shiro left.Adam has to figure out how to live the rest of his life when all his plans had revolved around Takashi. Luckily he's found a new Ride or Die bitch in his Teaching Assistant, Veronica and a mentor in Colleen Holt. Together they're ready to take on heartbreak, explorations of love, and an alien invasion.This story is the prequel to There has to be an After for Us and is also a parallel story to the first seven seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender. Unlike There has to be an After for Us, the characters in this fic are adults and get themselves into 'adult situations.' I will mark chapters accordingly.





	Before the After: The Adventures of Adonica

The following is a transcript of the last air to base communication from the “The Wrath of Gaia” squadron…

 

Maverick: Our weapons have no effect.

Maverick: Evasive maneuvers.

Maverick: Wildcat’s gone.

Maverick: Titan’s not responding.

SnakeEyes: I can’t shake these things. He’s got me on target lock.

Maverick: Hang in there. I’m heading your way.

SnakeEyes: I can’t – No!

McClain (Base): Be aware. Another Galra fleet is launching and approaching.

Quicksilver: I’ve got target lock - No!

Maverick: No!

**********

Screaming. His own screams… detaching themselves from the source and dwindling away at a distance. Darkness.

But then…

Bright white light fading up until finally Adam could see again.

“Dearly Departed, we are gathered here today so I may welcome you to the After,” said a Giant Blue Catfish Man as he spread his arms out wide. His face was calm and reassuring. “Here you are safe and warm, but unlike Luxia’s kingdom, you won’t be mind squished.”

All around him voices erupted in laughter. Adam turned his head from side to side and discovered monsters of all shapes and sizes standing about him, looking up towards the Blue Catfish Man who stood on a raised platform in this land of pure white light.

“If you don’t get the reference, don’t worry because there are no worries in the After. Not when the final page has been written in the book of your life and you are ready to be at peace.”

‘Who the hell is this guy?’ wondered Adam and he shot his hand up into the air in hopes of asking him just that question. He was surprised to see hands rise all around him.

“Ah yes, the questions,” said Blue Catfish Man. “I know you all have many so in the interest of time I’m going to answer the most common questions you may have.” Everyone lowered their hands with an awkward giggle. Adam raised his higher still. Catfish ignored him though and kept speaking to the group. “First let me introduce myself. My name is Blaytz and I am a Guardian of the After. You may be wondering what exactly the After is. There are billions upon billions of religions across the universe and throughout all realities and they all of course have their own names for this place. Cloud Palace, Val Luna, Descarte, The Ending, Heaven, Dua Laguin, The Unbirth… It would be impossible for me to name all the different words each of your personal beliefs have for this space therefore we simply refer to it as the After. The place you go after your physical life has ended.

“Next you’re likely wondering how you got here. The simple answer is you died. The more complex answer is you’ve always been here. At least your soul has, as this is where your soul resides while your quintessence –which is a fancy word we use for consciousness – inhabits a physical body. When that physical body died your quintessence returned to your soul…”

Adam’s arm was already fatigued, but he had no intention of dropping it no matter how long it took for his raised hand to be called upon. At least he had until he spotted a familiar face in the crowd. “Bishop!” whispered Adam. When Lieutenant Bishop didn’t look his way, Adam dropped his arm and started pushing his way through the crowd whispering, “excuse me” to the various monster-like creatures.

On stage the Catfish was still blathering on, “… And that makes it possible for your soul to be connected to the quintessence inhabited in bodies through many realities. Sometimes these are slightly different versions of your current selves, but just as often these people are nothing like you. Your soul does have the potential to birth a consciousness that can en-soul a physical person who could be literally anyone in any reality. So…”

“Bishop,” said Adam, grabbing onto the arm of Sub-Lieutenant Louise Bishop. “Are you okay? I watched your jet explode.”

“I died,” said Bishop. “We all did. Aren’t you listening?” Bishop nodded towards the Catfish. “I’m trying to pay attention.”

Adam stared at Bishop. Why was she just going along with this?

“And lookey here!” gasped the Catfish, his voice suddenly increasing with volume and enthusiasm. “This is a perfect example of what I’m explaining. Just look at them! Can everyone see? Come up here please.”

Two identical purple women stepped up on the platform with him. And they were very much identical. Even wearing the same clothing and bemused expression, as they continued to gaze at each other with curiosity.

“Here we have the same version of the exact same soul in two realities that must’ve recently branched off and still they managed to die at the exact same time. Now that is astounding.” Catfish began clapping. “Can we give them a hand?” Others joined in with the clapping, the excitement spreading like a wave throughout the crowd. Bishop joined in clapping even adding an enthusiastic, “Woo!”

“Why are you clapping for that?” asked Adam.

“I dunno. Two of the same person. It’s cool.”

“It’s twins.”

“They’re from different realities,” said Bishop. “He just said. You’re not even paying attention, Lieutenant-Commander.”

Adam just stared at her. “I don’t like you dead,” he said, gesturing to her whole ‘thing.’ “You’re weird now.”

“… And when you are both ready, you will merge as one into your soul,” continued the Catfish. This dude had Kool-Aid-pushing cult leader written all over him. “Take your time.”

The purple women were clutching hands and smiling at each other then suddenly there was a flash of light and they became one. The crowd gasped and started cheering.

“This is the worst magic show ever,” muttered Adam. Still as Adam kept staring at the purple woman, singular, he thought he could see a soft glow emanating from her chest.

“Wonderful! Just wonderful!” gushed the Blue Catfish. “Thank you for feeling safe enough to merge in front of us. You may step down now.” The woman (women?) stepped back into the crowd. “Orientation for the After is a lot and I don’t want to overwhelm you with information. I plan on coming around to each and every one of you to answer your individual queries though there are a lot of you.” Everyone spun their heads to absorb the group of hundreds they were in. “It’s more than is usual, however, there are many wars raging through all the realities right now so every once in awhile a hundred battles will wipe out hundreds of souls all within a few minutes of each other and we end up with a huge crowd like this. In the meantime, who would like to reunite with some dead loved ones?” He asked this like Oprah giving away free stuff and the crowd responded just the same as her audience would’ve, with cheering and excited bouncing.

Adam watched more strange looking monsters and some humans fade into view all around them. The people in their crowd started running towards them to embrace them. That’s when Adam saw someone else he knew within their orientation group. “Lieutenant Bradshaw!” he said, waving at his second in command. He rushed towards her and grabbed her arm before she could get caught up in the flow. “I’m sorry. I tried to reach you to provide cover fire.”

“Let it go, Lieutenant-Commander. It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said and then with a gentle smile added, “If you’ll excuse me, I see someone I know.” Bradshaw turned and starting running. “Granny!” She waved and ran into the arms of an elderly human.

“Well, I hate this,” muttered Adam. “Where’d the Blue Fish go?”

All around him monsters and humans were hugging more monsters and humans. Adam did a three-sixty and found himself suddenly face to face with Catfish himself.

“Adam, can I help you find someone?” asked Fish Man.

“Okay, so you don’t know me - beyond my name – but here is my whole deal, I don’t have anyone here to greet me. I’ve lived a very blessed life where none of my family has ever died. Even my grandparents are still alive and the only people I ever loved, who I thought had died, turned out to be alive after all.”

“So you don’t want to meet your ancestors and feel like a single link in a never ending chain?”

“No. What I want is to speak to a manager. Who’s in charge? I want to talk to them.”

“Then you’re in luck,” said Catfish, making no moves whatsoever. “To be clearer, you’re in luck because I’m in charge.”

“You? Really? I thought you were maybe the warm up act before God got here or whatever.”

“Oh no, there’s no actual God. Not in the context that you believe anyway. We do have a Lion Goddess a.k.a. the Goddess of the Universe –“

“Femme energy, love it.”

“—However, I am one with her so I am qualified to help you. I get the sense that you are not adjusting well to your death, which is perfectly normal. It takes some longer than others to be at peace. But you did come here with others so perhaps their assimilation can aspire you to let go.”

“The others I came here with died after I led them into a suicide mission against the first wave of an alien invasion.”

“Led by Sendak,” added Catfish. “My dominant consciousness died in a Galran Gladiator Pit run by Sendak so Twinsies!” Then he legit did spirit fingers.

“Girl… what?”

Big Blue put his hands down. “Is twinsies not human slang? I really try to learn a few things from all the different cultures, but there are so many and I get mixed up.”

“No, it was completely on point if not a little tone deaf, but here’s the thing. I’m not sore over how I died and I wouldn’t even be that upset that I died if it had happened like a year ago because I would’ve been super psyched to have the love of my life waiting for me, but as I brushed upon already, he’s not actually dead and I need to see him again.”

“And you will.” Catfish smiled. “When he passes.”

“No, you don’t understand. We broke up because I didn’t want him to go to outer space and I told him that if he went to not expect to see me when he gets back, but there is a very good chance he’d on his way back to Earth.”

“Then you are a man of your word.”

“No, wrong, no. I don’t want to keep my word. I want to be a filthy stinking liar. I want to be there waiting for him. I want to hold him in my arms and tell him I was wrong and he was wrong and we were both wrong and we need to just get married!”

“Adam, I’m sorry, but you won’t be there when he gets back.”

“Unacceptable. I demand a refund. Send me back.”

“You can’t go back. Your physical body has died. There is nothing your quintessence can enter. It needs a host.”

“I don’t care about having a body – though for the record, mine was awesome – I’m down for going full Casper. If Swayze can be reunited with his lost love that way, so can I!”

Catfish was staring at him, clearly confused. “I don’t know some of those human terms.”

“I’m saying make me a ghost.”

The Catfish started laughing. “That’s not a real thing. Not for humans anyway. Some other species can take on a spirit form in the physical realm, but no, not you.”

Adam took a step back and gave Catfish a once over. “Am I detecting…” Adam looked down at the Catfish’s wardrobe… vest… no shirt… chunky jewelry… “Yeah, I can definitely feel it. You’re gay, aren’t you?”

“I’m what?” asked Catfish, confused.

“Into dudes,” said Adam. “My Gaydar is going off.” Blue still looked confused. “You feel attraction to men. You’re not straight.”

“So I’m bent?”

“Just gay. And that I can use.” Adam smiled real pretty at the Blue Guy then he pulled off his glasses and shook out his hair. “Well, hello.” 

“Hi…” Adam took a finger and ran it down the guys blue chest. He got a vacant stare in response. Adam removed his finger. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s just I’m realizing now I’ve only ever flirted with one person in my entire life and it was well over a decade ago so I’m rusty and teen movies ingrained in me that if I take off my glasses and shake out my hair you’ll suddenly realize I’m beautiful, but clearly that’s not working.”

“Well, you can go ahead and take off the glasses. Your vision is perfect here.”

“They’re an aesthetic,” said Adam, putting them back on. “It’s part of my look. I don’t know how to do this.” He was starting to spiral. “Am I your type at all? Can I promise to do things for you if you just let me go be alive again?”

“Do things for me?” Now Catfish looked really lost.

“With my body… er whatever I am right now? I could dance for you?”

“Oh no, I’m sorry,” said Catfish in a cheery, condescending tone. “My dominant consciousness is married. Would you like me to rotate so an unattached consciousness takes over in hopes you’ll have better luck with him?”

“Wait, you’re married? That might work out even better. Was it love at first sight?” asked Adam, leaning deep into Catfish’s personal space.

“Uh…”

“Was-it-love-at-first-sight?” Adam asked, crazy eyed.

“Yes…”

“Then you must understand how I feel,” cried Adam. “It was the same way with me and Takashi except we never actually got to get married. Can you imagine a life where you got separated from your husband?”

“Yes, in my physical life our kingdoms were are war. Him and our child were trapped behind enemy lines and imprisoned with the Galra. It took me over fifteen deca-phoebs to break them out. I was captured in the process then thrown in the Galdiator pits and well, you know the rest…” Big Blue put a reassuring hand on Adam’s shoulder. “You will reunite with your love when he dies in his own time.”

Adam smacked the hand off his shoulder. “That could be years. I can’t wait that long!”

“Years? You can’t wait years?” The Catfish chuckled. “Do you know how long the Galra live for? Thousands of Earth years passed before I saw my husband again. And our son, Kol, is still alive! I’m still waiting to see him. I think you can wait a few years.Give it a bit of time. You will be at peace just like everyone else here. If it helps, you can do a Life Review.”

“A what?”

“For some it helps their consciousness settle if they watch their life flash before their eyes. It gives them the sense that their life was meaningful and complete.”

Adam thought for a second. “That’s perfect. Let’s do that.”

“Very well,” said Catfish, summoning a force field around them. “In this chamber, you may watch your entire life go by.” Blue looked through the glass of the force field, unsettled. “My next orientation is already here.”

Adam looked and the group was ten times the size of his group and almost completely human. Things were not going well back on Earth.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” said Big Blue, going to leave.

Adam grabbed his hand. “No, you need to watch this with me.”

“I have to greet everyone and do my presentation.”

“Why? Why can’t their already dead loved-ones fill them in on the whole deal?”

Catfish blushed a little. “Well… I enjoy doing the orientation. I like the attention of the crowd and… just between you and me, there’s really nothing else to do around here.”

“Sure there is. You can watch my life story. It’s super interesting. I promise!”

Big Blue Catfish sighed. “I’ll watch a few memories. Just until you feel settled.”

“Thank you…um… What’s your name again? I can’t keep thinking of you as Big Blue Catfish Man in my head. I mean, I’m into it.” Adam gestured to his body. “Your whole thing, mister…?”

“Blaytz.”

Huh? “Interesting. How do you spell that?”

“Your human alphabet butchers it,” said Blaytz, dismissively. “Let’s get started.”

A memory appeared all around them, almost as real as life and Adam found himself looking at the back of his teenage self dressed in his Garrison Junior Cadet uniform, feeling a sense of wonder

“That’s not right,” said Blaytz. “This should start at your earlier memories. Like as a toddler. Unless you had amnesia in your adolescence. Did you have amnesia?”

“No,” said Adam. “But it’s starting here because this is the day my life truly began. Nothing before this day mattered.”

“Why?” asked Blaytz.

“Just wait and see…”

“Okay,” said Blaytz with a non-chalant shrug.

“Ugh. Fine. I was trying to be dramatic and build tension, but clearly you’re not invested so let me set this up better. What you are about to watch is the Greatest Love Story of All Time.”

Blaytz, once again, maddeningly didn’t react.

“Really? Nothing? Zero reaction?”

“Adam, I am the Guardian of every soul that ever was and ever will be and every expression that soul has taken in the physical realities. I know every single one of their love stories and everyone thinks theirs is the greatest, but if you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all. They all blend together for me because there is no such thing as the greatest love story.” Blaytz crossed his arms stubbornly, but then suddenly jolted and smacked his head with the palm of his hand. “Except my own of course! Hey, do me a favour, and if you ever meet my husband, don’t tell him I paused.”

“I won’t tell him if you get me back to Earth.”

“Yeah, no that’s not possible.”

“Whatever. Just watch. It’s going to change your mind…”


End file.
